


No Running, No Splashing

by cosmic_llin



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Holodecks/Holosuites, Swimming Pools
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-21
Updated: 2014-08-21
Packaged: 2018-02-14 04:12:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2177421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cosmic_llin/pseuds/cosmic_llin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Julian and Jadzia both get stood up by their holosuite friend dates.</p>
            </blockquote>





	No Running, No Splashing

**Author's Note:**

  * For [VictoriaG16](https://archiveofourown.org/users/VictoriaG16/gifts).



Julian Bashir finally gave up hanging around like a lost puppy outside the holosuite and came down to the bar.

‘Stood up?’ Jadzia asked.

‘No!’ he said indignantly. ‘Keiko got called away suddenly, so Miles has to stay home with Molly.’

‘Don’t worry,’ she said. ‘Me too. I was supposed to meet Kira and go to Camelot half an hour ago, but her conference with the Bajoran Farmers’ Association overran. Maybe it’s for the best. I think she’s getting kind of sick of Camelot anyway. Where were you and Miles going?’

Julian indicated his tuxedo. ‘Julian Bashir, Secret Agent. Except Miles has been complaining about it all week because I made him be Falcon again. I never complain when he wants to be Brian Boru.’

Jadzia wasn’t totally sure that was true but she let it slide.

‘Listen,’ she said, ‘why don’t you and I go instead? Who needs those two?’

Julian’s eyes lit up. ‘Really?’

‘Why not? Is there a role for me in that secret agent program that’s not a secretary or one of your love interests?’

Julian frowned. ‘Uh... no.’

‘Julian, sometimes your tastes are a little... old-fashioned. Something else then, where we both get to do something interesting... Quark, throw over that list of holosuite programs...’

Quark flipped the padd across the bar and Julian skimmed the list. Jadzia peered over his shoulder.

‘Government agents from 20th-century Earth who investigate paranormal phenomena?’ he suggested.

Jadzia frowned. ‘I don’t like the clothes.’

‘Hey, this one’s about a headstrong and determined frontier doctor and... oh,’ he wrinkled his nose, ‘that’s your character. Mine is some beefy woodsman. No thanks.’

‘How about this one?’ said Jadzia. ‘“In a time of ancient gods, warlords and kings, a land in turmoil cried out for a hero...”’

Julian shook his head. ‘I’ve already played that one too many times.’

‘Then what?’

‘You know,’ said Julian, ‘it occurs to me that most of the programs on here are set on Earth...’

Jadzia shrugged. ‘Earth has a lot of great stories.’

‘Yes, but don’t you ever want something from home? You play all these Terran and Klingon holosuite programs, and even the new Bajoran ones that are coming out now, but you never play anything from Trill.’

‘Not that many holosuite programs come out of Trill,’ said Jadzia. ‘We don’t really... share our stories with other people. It’s not the way the Trill do things.’

‘There’s got to be something in here,’ Julian said, flicking rapidly through the list.

‘There is,’ said Jadzia. ‘There’s just one. And it’s not even a story. The Hoobishan Baths. Nerys and I tried it once but she didn’t like it.’

‘Whyever not?’

‘I don’t know, it was too relaxing or something.’ She rolled her eyes.

‘Did you ever go to the real thing?’

‘Sure, all the time when I was an initiate.’

‘Great,’ said Julian, ‘you’ll be able to show me around then.’

Jadzia grinned. ‘Hell, why not?’

* * *

‘There are a few different sections,’ Jadzia explained as they entered, wearing their swimming costumes. The room was warm and smelled sweet, and she breathed it in. ‘Ahhh... what was I saying?’

‘A few different sections...’ Julian prompted.

‘Oh, right. Well, there’s the massage area, the beauty treatments area, the bar, private rooms, gymnasium, steam rooms and saunas... then you have the baths themselves - they come in all different temperatures and types. There are forty-seven of them altogether, and there’s a particular order you’re supposed to go through them, but since we only have this holosuite for another ninety minutes, we’ll just do the highlights. Come on!’

She grabbed Julian’s hand and dragged him swiftly into a chamber thick with steam.

‘Last one in’s a rotten egg!’ she shouted, and she was gone.

Julian heard a splash, and then a few moments later a whoop of delight.

‘Isn’t it rather dangerous to run on slippy tiles?’ he protested.

He followed her gingerly through the clouds and walked down the steps into the pool. The water was warm and fragrant, and at its deepest it covered his head.

‘This is First Pool,’ Jadzia explained, the next time she popped above the water. ‘It’s where you warm up and rinse down so that you’re ready for all the others.’

‘What’s the second pool?’ Julian asked, flipping to float on his back.

‘Pools two through fourteen are the cold pools,’ said Jadzia. ‘A lot of people skip those ones. They’re supposed to be good for your skin, but really it’s just for people who want to prove they’re tough. I never bother.’

‘Thirteen cold pools?’

‘Yeah, but they’re all cold in slightly different ways.’

‘Yuck. Miles would probably like it. The water in his kayaking program is freezing.’

Seventeenth Pool turned out to be a pool full of pastel-coloured bubbles that made a little chiming noise when popped.

‘It smells delicious,’ said Julian.

‘The water is infused with mera leaves,’ Jadzia said dreamily. ‘They’re known for their soothing properties. This was my favourite pool when I was studying to be joined. Some days I got so wound up about it all that I couldn’t think straight, and coming here was the only thing that helped. I’d just stay right here in this pool and listen to the bubbles until I felt better.’

Twenty-seventh Pool could only be reached by swimming through a tunnel from Twenty-sixth Pool. It was in a cave, lit only by glowing stones. Tiny waterfalls cascaded down the rock walls and splashed them.

‘This one’s also known as the Lovers’ Pool,’ said Jadzia. ‘But the reason I like it is - well, listen.’

She whistled a long, sweet note. The cave whistled it back to her.

‘I love echoes,’ said Jadzia. ‘Don’t you?’

Julian whistled his own note, and listened to it bounce back. He whistled again, and this time when the note bounced back he whistled on top of it, harmonising with the echo.

‘Ooh, that’s pretty!’ said Jadzia. ‘Do it again and I’ll join in.’

Julian whistled long notes and Jadzia whistled short, and they overlapped and intermingled into a warm bubble of sound, growing and changing as they tried new patterns. At last they ran out of breath and gave up, grinning at each other as the last echoes died away.

‘There should just be time for one more,’ Jadzia said, as they emerged outside again. ‘Come on. It’s a bit of a climb.’

‘A climb? I thought this was meant to be relaxing!’ Julian said.

Jadzia ignored him and led swiftly up the wet stone steps. At the top she stopped and waited for him to catch up.

‘I don’t see any pool,’ said Julian, looking around at the circular chamber.

‘You will,’ said Jadzia. ‘Listen, Julian... I had a really good time. Thanks for suggesting we choose a Trill program. I didn’t realise how much I’d missed this place.’

He smiled warmly at her. ‘Thank you, Jadzia. I’m really glad I...’

The floor fell away beneath his feet and suddenly he was plunging down, through a dark tunnel of frothing water that roared in his ears and flung him from side to side like flotsam on a wave. He thought he heard a distant laugh, and then he reached sweet fresh air again for a brief moment before landing in the Forty-seventh Pool with a splash that made his head ring.

He found Jadzia again at the surface, soaked and laughing.

‘I’m really glad I came,’ he said.


End file.
